Now that they've all been reborn, who wouldn't be living life to the fullest?

Let's rewind to 6 PM.

Ran Leyao had just finished her afternoon workout and taken a shower when her phone rang. It was her mother calling.

"Yaoyao, come home tonight. Mom made your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs."

The mother's voice had a slight, barely perceptible hoarseness.

Ran Leyao didn't think much of it and readily agreed, "Okay, Mom, I've just finished practicing and I'll go back right away."

She drove back to her home in the city in a good mood.

As soon as I entered, I sensed something was off.

Only a dim wall lamp was on in the living room. The father, Ran Guodong, stood with his back to the door in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his figure appearing somewhat hunched.

The mother, Zhao Shufen, sat on the sofa, her eyes red and swollen like walnuts, and the clear five-finger mark on her face was even more glaring.

"mom!"

Ran Leyao's heart tightened, and she rushed over, squatted down in front of her mother, and tenderly stroked her face.

"What happened to your face? Who hit you?"

She suddenly looked up, glaring at her father's retreating back. "Dad! Did you hit Mom?!"

Ran Guodong slowly turned around, his face ashen, his eyes bloodshot and filled with a near-desperate frustration.

He didn't look at Ran Leyao, but instead growled at Zhao Shufen, "Tell her yourself!"

Zhao Shufen's tears welled up again instantly. She grabbed Ran Leyao's hand, her voice trembling and choked with sobs:

"Yaoyao...our family...our family is going bankrupt!"

"What?"

Ran Leyao was stunned, as if struck by lightning.

Her family runs a garment manufacturing plant. It's not a top-tier factory, but it's been doing quite well over the years. She's never had to worry about money since she was a child, and she can buy whatever she likes.

The apartment near the school, which she lived in alone for her convenience, was also bought outright by her family.

"Mom, what nonsense are you talking about? How could that be?"

"It's true..." Zhao Shufen sobbed uncontrollably.

Ran Leyao looked at her father, clinging to the last shred of hope: "Dad, Mom wasn't telling the truth, right? The factory has always been doing quite well, hasn't it?"

Ran Guodong finally looked at his daughter, his eyes filled with complex emotions—guilt and despair.

He slumped onto the opposite sofa, running his hands through his hair. "Good? Good what! It's all over, completely over!"

Ran Guodong took a deep breath and said, as if using all his strength:

"The factory...the factory recently received a big order to make a batch of winter clothes for a foreign fast fashion brand. In order to meet the deadline, I used most of the working capital and also took out an additional loan from the bank to purchase a large amount of raw materials."

As a result… as a result, when the shipment reached the sea, the cargo ship encountered a huge storm. One container fell into the sea, and most of the rest were soaked by seawater and completely destroyed!

In 2006, shipping insurance and contract terms were not as comprehensive as in later periods, and insurance coverage was insufficient.

"Just the penalties for breach of contract and repayment of short-term loans will leave a deficit of at least five million! The bank has already made it clear that it will not renew the loan!"

"If I can't pay back the money next week... if I can't pay next week, the court will seize the factory, equipment, and this house... bankruptcy liquidation. Not only will I not have a penny left, but I'll also be burdened with nearly ten million in debt!"

Ran Guodong's voice was hoarse with despair.

"But...you can't hit Mom!"

Ran Leyao hugged her mother tenderly:

"Even if we go bankrupt, we...we can start over! Dad, you're only in your fifties, you still have a chance!"

"Starting over? You make it sound so easy!"

Ran Guodong suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, the pressure and fear that had been building up over the past few days finally erupting:

"You have no idea how hard it is to make money in this society! I started from scratch and worked hard for more than 20 years to get where I am today! If I go bankrupt in my fifties, my life will be over!"

How can I ever hold my head high in front of my relatives and friends again? They'll all be pointing fingers and laughing at me behind my back! What will your Uncle Li and Uncle Zhang think of me? I can't stand those disdainful looks!

He values ​​his reputation highly and cannot imagine being ridiculed after going bankrupt.

Ran Leyao was stunned by her father's roar and couldn't speak for a moment.

Ran Guodong stared intently at his daughter, his eyes gleaming with an almost crazed light: "Now, only you can save this family!"

Ran Leyao's heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling.

"Didn't your Uncle Li's son, Li Minghao, always like you? Even though you thought he was a bit too short and too fat, and didn't like him."

Ran Guodong's tone carried a hint of urgency:

"If you agree to marry him, the Li family is willing to give us five million to help us through this crisis! Their family has assets of over a hundred million, so this amount of money is nothing to them! Our family is... climbing the social ladder."

"Marry him? That fat guy who's barely 1.7 meters tall and weighs 250 pounds?!"

Ran Leyao screamed in disbelief:

"Dad! Are you crazy? You're not kidding, are you? How could I possibly marry him!"

"What's wrong with marrying him?!"

Ran Guodong slammed his fist on the table and stood up:

"He can save our whole family! He can save your father from going bankrupt and being burdened with huge debts in his old age! He can save your mother from suffering and poverty with me! If you don't marry him, are you just going to watch your mother and me, at our age, end up homeless?!"

"I haven't mistreated you all these years, have I? Everything you eat, wear, and use—isn't it the best? Now that the family is in trouble, what's wrong with you making some sacrifices?! It's not like I'm sending you to live a life of hardship! You'll still be a rich wife after you marry me!"

He looked at Zhao Shufen and said sternly, "Tell me! Do you agree too?!"

Zhao Shufen shrank back, avoiding her daughter's gaze, and just kept crying:

"Yaoyao... Mommy had no choice... If there were any other way, Mommy would never have let you suffer in the slightest... But now... Mommy really doesn't want to go back to those hard, frugal days of the past..."

Ran Leyao looked at her mother, her heart turning completely cold. She had originally hoped that her mother would stand by her side.

"Mom... how could you do this? Weren't you always the most supportive of my right to choose my own partner and find someone I love?"

Her voice trembled.

"I finally understand!"

Ran Leyao suddenly stood up, tears welling up in her eyes, which she forcefully held back.

"One of you is playing the good cop, feigning helplessness, while the other is acting crazy and pressuring me! You're conspiring to sell your daughter! You're trading my marriage for your peaceful lives!"

"What do you mean by selling your daughter! I'm your father!" Ran Guodong was trembling with anger.

"I won't marry him! I'd rather die than marry him!" Ran Leyao shouted resolutely, then turned and rushed out the door.

Behind him came Ran Guodong's hoarse, desperate threat:

"If you don't marry me! I'll kill myself and your mother!"

"Then let's all just die!"

In a fit of anger, Ran Leyao blurted out a retort without thinking, then slammed the door shut, shutting out her mother's cries and her father's roars behind her.

……